June 11th 2020
5 EASY TIPS TO KEEP YOUR REMOTE TEAM PRODUCTIVE
Millions of people are still working from home as lockdown continues in the UK, as the nature of their work means it’s not necessary for them to travel to their place of work.
Microsoft reported at the end of April that use of Microsoft Teams reached 75 million daily users. It’s great to hear so many businesses are using the collaboration tool to keep in touch, manage their team and share content.
As people are at the heart of any business, we think it’s important to protect your teams and support them in keeping positive and staying focused whilst remote working. People are navigating many different personal challenges, so we wanted to share guidance on how to keep your remote workers productive.
1. Stick to your routine
It’s really easy to get complacent and stop following your lock down routine; we have all lost count of the number of weeks we have been working from home. Routines keep you focused; if you don’t have a plan you can easily walk into an unproductive cycle. Making use of your work calendar to send notifications acting as reminders is helpful in making sure you stick to your routine.
2. Have a distraction-free environment
It’s important to stick to your workspace and not move your setup an arm’s length away from your TV remote. A room with minimal distractions, with fewer temptations will keep you focused on the tasks you have set for the day. Many businesses have already taken steps to make their employees more comfortable at home to ensure you have good posture and an accurate desk and chair setup.
3. Give yourself plenty of breaks
Having regular breaks is important for your health and can even improve how much work you get done. Breaks are just as productive as working time as they give you a chance to reset. But don’t push the time as this will eat into time you could be working. Every hour, take 5 minutes to take your eyes off your screen, get a snack, do some stretches or even write some notes. By allowing yourself regular breaks, you will find that your productivity improves!
4. Stay in regular contact with your team
You may still not be able to meet your co-workers in the office but staying in regular contact, whether that be through messaging, audio or video calls, helps to keep everyone up to date and morale high. Here at Lily, we use Collaborate and Microsoft Teams to have regular video conferences with our colleagues, so we don’t miss each other too much! Whatever solution you use, seeing each other and collaborating can really help boost morale and productivity. Maybe you'll even notice your team working gets more effective.
5. Get plenty of sleep
Working from home has one big advantage, there isn’t a need to travel! Less travelling means generally people are going to bed later as they don’t have to get up as early. Try not burn the candle at both ends and stay up watching Netflix, get enough sleep for your health & wellbeing!
Hopefully these tips have helped you re-think your home working situation. Here at Lily, we have implemented a successful remote working structure to support our customers. We are here to help your operations get back in the “new normal” world. If you need any help please just get in touch.